‘Planet hunter’ telescope to chart 1,000 planets outside our solar system

Once in orbit, it will rapidly share its data with the general public, inviting space enthusiasts and budding astronomers to use the data to help select targets and characterise stars

Artist’s impression of Ariel. Picture: ESA/STFC RAL Space/UCL/UK Space Agency/ ATG Medialab

The European Space Agency (ESA) has given the green light to the world’s first space telescope – dubbed the planet hunter – to study the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system.

The telescope’s mission is to look at the links between a planet’s chemistry and its environment by charting approximately 1,000 known planets outside our own solar system: known as exoplanets.